Daedan
Daedan is a small town crowned with a large fortress on the southern borders of The Marches, farthest west along the foothills of the Shield Mountains near the shores of the March Sea along the Black River History The fortress-town of Daedan was originally a Shield Dwarf settlement that was abandoned at some point before the humans had explored the furthest eastern reaches of the Black River . Since it's discovery by the humans of the north and West Marches , the fortress-city has been a tempting prize for almost every noble house eager to claim its fabled riches for their own. Every time a noble house ignores the warning of the Shield Dwarves and attempts to claim the fortress for their own they never survive their first winter. Households with fifty guards have tried. Households with two-hundred and fifty guards have tried. Both have simply vanished by the end of their first winter. Everyone seems to be doing well when they first settle. They are able to sell off whatever dwarven treasures they can find to the curious and they might even be able to hire miners to work the fabled mine which lies at the heart of the fortress. Rumors vary as to what the mine contains. Some say that it is full of seams of gold as large as a river. Others say that it's the largest silver mine of the shield dwarven empire. Some of the more creative rumors say that the mine was played out and that the dwarves hid thier treasures down in the mine to hide it from the humans. House Kyburn of the South Marches, with their two-hundred fifty guards, was able to explore the mine in their short occupancy. They managed to make it through their first winter and only winter and their accounts of what happened are the best description of the events of the abandoned fortress. After two months of operation within the mine, the Household was becoming very wealthy - able to produce a sizeable quanity of gold. It was only after they had spent their first shipment of gold - buying luxurious items to furnish the keep - that the miners started to die. Miners would turn up missing in the tunnels. When teams of men went to look for them they too were lost. Any who stumbled upon their remains said that the 'Lost' were somehow different. According to one priest's description of the bodies, the miner's skin had become ashen grey to a point approaching white. Their eyes were grey but cunning and wrathful. They attacked any that they came upon and could only be destroyed with fire. The dead miners were killed and burned and the gold started to flow again - at a small trickle. Many of the Household guards were assigned to protect the miners while they were working. And then the guards started to die. Then the household staff and finally the members of the House themselves. Many think that the House kept their losses from the first winter a secret - attempting to conceal just how badly the curse had worked against them to continue their rise to power. During the third week of their second winter a whelp was received at the city of Kingsbridge and several others along the Black River . The whelp carried a message from the priest who served the House of Kyburn . It simply read "They are all gone. Arn protect me." The fortress, by 880 KR , has remained abandoned for nearly ninty years. Geography The city was created in a style popular among the Shield Dwarves.Three nestled octagons, cut in half as they climb up the side of the mountain in three huge steps with the first step wider than the remaining two. Government Economy Inhabitants Features 'Temple of the Stone Father' The Temple of the Stone Father rests on the southern end of the first ring of the city. Originally constructed on the site of the first quarry, the temple is large enough to accomodate two dozen priests. 'Temple of the Eternal Water' The Temple of Eternal Water of the goddess Amara was constructed on the northern end of the first ring of the city where the original miners discovered a spring that seemed without end. A visiting priestess of Amara saw this as a sign of her goddess' will and remained near the quarry to see to the needs of the first workers. Category:City/Daedan Category:Settlement/Barzul Category:City/Barzul Category:Ruin Category:Ruin/North Marches Category:Settlement Category:Black River